Learning the lessons and building community – debriefing after crisis

In previous posts I have described my beliefs regarding the management of crisis and the rewards associated with good crisis management. The final point I would like to raise about crisis management is the importance of “debriefing” after a crisis has receded.

You may recall that I had just been part of a specialist team that had formed through a well-negotiated process of requirements. However, when the team met for the first time, the original agenda and business expectations had completely changed and our fledgling team had to adapt very quickly to provide the new outcomes in the time it had. 

The professionalism displayed in calmly setting about the task set was a credit to all concerned. However, there was a significantly different end to the team’s time together than what you would normally expect. This difference came from a spontaneous “debriefing” that occurred as soon as the main deliverables were achieved for the four day session. 

This debriefing session was started when one of the participants passed comment about how well the team had measured up to the task. One interesting observation was the credit given to a team member for “taking the heat” of the main team by removing outside communication to create a “bubble” where the team would be able to “do what they were there to do.” This team member left the room with the promise they would field any calls made to the group and they would not allow the group to be interrupted again. Removing the “stimulus” of all the anxiety gave the team time to focus and really think deeply about the new problem space, which led to the revised solution. 

Other team members then started to give positive support and praise to each other about how they had all managed the situation and how they were humbled by each other’s capabilities to act under pressure. While this process may sound a little “over the top,” it provided a mechanism for the group members to release the pressure. The debriefing process also gave the group members the time to think about the success of the session and the success of the group itself. 

I suppose when we all came together, we knew that we had been hand-picked for a reason (i.e., we were good at what we did), but we did not know how well we could convert our knowledge into action as a team. The adversity of the crisis and the ability of all team members to open up and give each other genuine praise was the moment when we turn into a real team. 

You might be thinking – yeah, I can see how debriefing works when the team works together well, but what happens when it doesn’t? In this situation, debriefing should follow the principles laid out in the “crisis management list” I gave a few posts ago. For trust to grow, people have to be honest in acknowledging their weaknesses. On the other hand, team members also need to be understanding of each other’s circumstances and realise that whatever happened, each person was doing the best with what they had at time. 

When we realise this last point, it becomes much harder to criticise the other person because we all have our weaknesses, we all contributed in some way to the problem occurring, and we all contributed to its solution. These sentiments build a stronger team and closer heart-felt relationships between members. Also, humbly revealing our strengths and weaknesses makes us stronger and more able to cope with crisis next time it inevitably comes knocking.